Category: Coffee Makers

There is no such thing as the singe best cup of coffee because individual preferences vary so much. This article is aimed to help you perfect your personal favorite coffee and be able to rinse and repeat the process each and every time you prepare it.

It is not only about how your coffee tastes, but as much about when you drink it, what is the environment and so on. When you have slept well, are amongst people you love and at a location that you really enjoy, have a good cup java from a nice cup can feel like the best cup ever. When you drink that exact same coffee some other time or at another place, it might not be that great. The key word here is good.

Most of us can easily spot the difference between good coffee and bad coffee. There can be a lot of different brews that are good but you can’t make the difference which is the best, and there can be a lot of coffee that is brewed with too hot water to make it bitter, used a poor filter which leaves a taste on it, or just made from a grind that is not suitable for that particular brewing method.

This article is not meant to be the final word on brewing coffee, but the purpose here is to get you thinking about how you are making your coffee, and how you can easily improve your “Joe”. Here are laid out some of the most important things that affect the quality of your coffee.

Coffee Beans

I find it quite interesting that most of us don’t really think that much what type of coffee we buy. We usually buy something that we are used to purchase, something that our mother of father always bought, or something that is on sale.

The world is revolving around coffee these days, and you can easily find all kinds of varieties of beans online, or even from your local stores. Merchants and roasteries have noticed an uptrend around coffee, and are providing us with ample varieties of beans from around the world available at different roasting levels. Every single choice you make has an effect on how that cup of coffee will eventually taste, and choosing the main ingredient correctly makes a huge difference. Though some might argue that water is the main ingredient, since the end product contains mostly just water, but we will get to water later.

The environment in which the coffee bean grows has a huge effect on how it will taste. How much sun is it exposed to, how is the humidity, what are the nutrients that the plant absorbs from the soil, all make a difference in the nuances and if you pay attention you can start to notice these small differences.

Different plantations around the same area might even produce beans that have different tastes due to the way that they grow their coffee plants. I recommend being explorative and open to new brands and different varieties, since there are so many options to choose from you most likely have not yet found your favorite. Just something that you like a lot.

Below you will find some of the most popular coffee varieties and a small description of each. Some of the varieties originate from selective breeding and some from simple natural selection as the plants have been accommodating to the environment in which they are growing.

Most of the coffee that you are able to find around the world are either Arabica or Robusta. Robusta is mostly grown around Vietnam and in the Philippines from where originates the legendary and fancy coffee that is passed through the digestive track of a civet cat called Kopi Luwak.

The Colombian Arabica is one of the best known varieties of Arabica, and it is well known for the intense aromas and light acidity. Popular ready made grinds include such as Sello Rojo

Ethiopia is another large produces of Arabica and three varieties originate from that region. The Ethiopian Harar, Ethiopian Sidamo and the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. They all come from different regions of Ethiopia which is where the names derive, and are known for their complex and fruity flavors.

Once you find the types of beans you like and find a the perfect roast for your preferences, you need to store the beans correctly. Moisture and air do not do good things to your coffee beans, so you want to store them in a cool, dry and air tight place.

What we do here is quite simple and doable. Just get mason jars for each type of coffee you have, and store them in the fridge. That way you can have plenty of different varieties and roasts at hand, and you can be quite sure that they will keep for a long time. You want to grind them just before the use, so you’ll need a grinder too.

The Grind

Now let’s see… You have your coffee beans in order, and you have been storing them the right way. And you got yourself a good grinder? First taking the coffee beans from your mason jar, and pulling out your coffee grinder will really impress your friends if you know what I mean.

You don’t need to have a high tech super expensive grinder to get your coffee beans the way you like, but you need to be able to tweak the settings. The grinder has to be able to produce consistent granule size and you don’t want it to heat when you use it. Low noise is just a bonus here, but great if you have kids who are still sleeping when you are preparing your morning coffee! We actually recommend that you don’t get one with an electric motor. They are fast, but fast means heat and noise when it comes to a coffee bean grinder.

Basically you want a conical burr grinder, and not one of those that have spinning blades or any other way of grinding the beans. This type of grinders will produce the most consistent results and often you are able to change the coarseness of the grind in very small increments to get the right one for you.

If you are using a dripper, you usually want a relatively small, fine granule size. Not as fine though as you would want an espresso grind to be or for turkish coffee. For a french press you can use a bit coarser grind, but we do recommend using the finest possible to make sure that as much of the coffee is surrounded by water as possible.

Peugeot actually makes some of the best coffee mills in the world, but for example the Hario hand grinder does a good job too. Both of these are of a good size for grinding a few cups at a time.

For espresso the game is completely different though. Trying to save money can actually bite back quite easily. At around $200 you start to get machines that can do the job quite well and also are very handy and easy to clean, but we’ll get to the grinders in another post you wait for that!

Water

After all, your coffee is mostly water. Water actually makes a big difference in how your cup of coffee tastes, since it too can have some tastes of its own. We recommend filtering your own water if you live in an area which has a water supply with a notable taste to make sure that you get a neutral tasting base for your coffee. You can of course use neutral bottled waters.

The taste of the water is not the only thing that affects your drinking pleasure, but the temperature makes an even bigger difference. If you are using a chemex, presso pan, high quality espresso machines, vacuum brewers, or even an Italian mocha pot, you are able to control the temperature.

If the water gets too hot, the end result will be a bitter coffee as the fatty acids in the coffee bean will start to oxidise. One excellent way to avoid this is to actually cold brew your coffee for around 10-16 hours in the fridge. Cold brew coffee will have a very different taste to other ways of brewing and you might even get hints of cola and beer from the brew.

The perfect temperature for your coffee when brewed with hot water is between 193 F (89,5 C) and 205 F (96 C) and never ever use boiling water. Some will argue that the closer to 205 F you will get the better, but all in all it is easy to understand why you need a reliable thermometer in hand when you are making your coffee. If you don’t want to use a thermometer or don’t have access to one when brewing, we recommend boiling water, removing it from the heat and adding 4-5% ice cold water and mixing it quickly before pouring it on the coffee.

This is a very handy method as not all thermometers are that reliable either, but honestly you should be able to get a reliable thermometer quite cheap off Amazon if you are serious about perfecting your cup of coffee. You will also need a really good quality scale to be able to accurately measure the water to coffee ratio correctly an reliably.

Brewing the coffee

Now let’s talk a bit about the actual brewing. Above are listed a lot of things about making good coffee in which you have very little control over. The things that you have a lot of control over are choosing the type of bean, grinding it to the perfect level of coarseness, having the right temperature water, perfect water to coffee ratio, and last but not least the brewing time.

Water temperature here is pretty much the only thing that is relatively constant, but the rest vary quite a lot depending on the brewing method. Typically you would use around 0.38 ounces (10.6 grams) of ground coffee to 6 ounces (or 177ml) of water. But like we have gone through above, these figures can vary on individual preferences.

When you are dripping coffee, you want the water to drip through the coffee grind in about 5 minutes. If you are making just a single cup of coffee, this can be quite difficult to achieve though so slightly less might be accepted. When you are using a french press you can deduct 1-3 minutes from this time. Cold brewing coffee can take easily up to 16 hours of you want to, and making a cup of espresso will actually require a very short time to brew. It takes longer to heat that 25-30ml of water to 190-192F (88-89C) than it takes to pass through the coffee in high pressure.

As you might realise from the brewing times. the smaller the grind the less time it usually takes. That is why you should actually try to use a grind that is as fine as possible for the method you are using and try to shorten the time, since almost all of the water soluble components are extracted rather quickly.

It might seem trivial, but we recommend setting a timer for your brewing. water temperature can vary a few degrees and it will not make a big difference, but brewing for a few minutes too long can make huge differences in the taste, as now different components of the coffee bean are starting to dissolve and can produce unwanted tastes.

Our Favorites?

To be honest… Those single serving french presses are probably the best things known to man. Even if you have more than one person drinking coffee at your house, you can get more than one and each of you can drink their favorite coffee. And if you want to have more than just one cup, it honestly takes 2-3 minutes of maceration and you are good to go for another cup.

Also a small one is very easy to clean by hand as you can rinse all the coffee crumbs and fat under hot water. Every now and then you should wash it thoroughly with dish washing liquid.

But basically you are done here. No matter which way of brewing coffee you choose, you need to keep an eye out for grind size, coffee bean freshness, water cleanness, water temperature, coffee-to-water-ratio and brewing time. Also choose your favorite coffee beans and have them roasted to the level you like to enjoy your coffee.

Some people don’t need a huge 12 cup coffee maker to make their single cup in the morning. Using a one cup coffee maker is enough, and that is when you need to find the good coffee maker to avoid the hassle the comes with impractical kitchen appliances. These machines aren’t meant for single people only, but sometimes you definitely don’t need to make that much coffee, or you might be the only coffee drinker in the house. Just brewing one high quality cup is enough!

What most people don’t realize is that when you use a large coffee maker to make just one cup, it isn’t as good as it can be. That is why the baristas in coffee shops often just brew a single cup at a time. It makes just good coffee, and they don’t want to have a lot of java laying around and starting to taste bad.

What makes this the best one cup coffee maker?

If you haven’t already studied the amount of singe serving coffee makers here is it simple. Keurig produces the most popular, and the best ones around. The price range is very good for the quality. Many professional machines cost several hundreds of dollars, and if you are looking for a real barista quality brewer, you will most likely have to pay almost a thousand dollars for it.

There are others like Tassimo and Senseo which also produce these small coffee makers, but based on what we have tested, seen and heard, the Keurig doesn’t only look the best, but it works the best as well. The pumping mechanism is very high quality which will allow the water to be pumped efficiently and fast – you don’t want to wait several minutes for a single cup of coffee. A high quality pump is what you need.

Besides just the great looks and the good pump of the Keurig it has other features that makes it better when compared to others. The most important factor is the amount of kCups available – for this one, there is simply the largest amount of coffees and teas available for you to brew. Because, let’s face it, we will all get bored to the same single cup of coffee, and it can make a huge difference in your day if you choose to have a different, more exciting cup of coffee every now and then!

The build quality is one of the most important things that we look at when we review products, and when compared to its competitors, the Keurig is the sturdiest machine there is. From other brands it can be hard to find metal in the construction whereas this one cup coffee maker has a really solid construction, with brushed metal inserts and nice modern led lights that make this coffee maker look really good.

Some of the great features that we like in this one is the fact that it has a 48 ounce water tank that can be removed. Also the drip tray is removable whereas in other brands it is sometimes solid that can make the cleaning process quite tedious. It is 1500 watts which means it will brew quickly, and on the top of that it has an automatic 2 hours shutdown. So if you are in a hurry when you are leaving the house in the morning to get to work, you don’t have to worry about whether you left the coffee maker on by accident!

At first when we started looking for one cup coffee makers to review, we found quite a lot of Keurig reviews, and we understood that it was going to be a brand that should be taken in to account. We don’t usually want to believe hype, but we want to see it for ourselves, and that is where this one blew us away. Not only did it match the hype, but we actually thought that it was better than we had expected or could have expected from all the positive reviews.

One of the nice features that we found was that if you don’t want to drink coffee, you can use it to make tea if you have tea bags. It will boil a cup of water in 20 seconds – so just put the tea bag in the cup and let it rip. Most likely you will not use your kettle ever again because it can boil three cups of water in a minute – something that a regular kettle will usually fail in.

In the end, it might seem like a lot to spend over a hundred dollars on a coffee maker. If you use it once or twice you will realize the difference. The quality of coffee is good, and if you choose to buy the kCups in bulk, you will end up spending less than .40$ per cup – that’s a lot less than you would pay for take away coffee!

In the past few years, BPA (bisphenol-A) has become a popular subject and as recently as the beginning of this year EU has banned this plastic poison from being used in baby bottles – a good gesture but since we have been aware of the possible dangers, if should have been done years ago. BPA is a compound which has been linked to a lot of different diseases such as various forms of cancer even when ingested in very small amounts (1/100 000 of a gram per kilogram of bodyweight on a regular basis), and it can be found in almost everything that is made of plastic. It will leak from the plastic to whatever you have in contact with the plastic and when heated it will leak even more. This has many people looking for BPA free coffee makers and water boilers.

BPA also acts as a xenoestrogen causing for example feminization amongst men, but the most alarming thing is that BPA is always found a lot in the placenta. This means that it can terribly harm an unborn child. So if you are pregnant, planning to be or want to be, you should eliminate all sources of BPA from your life immediately!

Many companies have already started manufacturing their coffee makers from plastics that don’t contain BPA, and for example Cuisinart makes BPA free coffee makers. Even though they are free from BPA they aren’t necessarily free from plastic, and there might be still other compounds used which haven’t been discovered to be as harmful as BPA, so many coffee drinkers are looking for a more traditional way of brewing coffee. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you a few ways of brewing your coffee without plastic.

The French Press is a very popular coffee brewer, and in most cases it is BPA free. The problem is that many manufacturers have started using plastic instead of glass to increase the durability. When you are looking for a BPA free coffee maker, this is exactly what you want to avoid – I have chosen this particular press to display here as it has metal parts and glass instead of plastic.

Most people who tried making their coffee on a French Press never got back to drip brewing. The taste is a lot thicker and smoother, and honestly you will just make better coffee. I personally always use the Bodum Chambord, and every time I have friends over they are telling me how good my coffee tastes. They want to know what kind of beans I am using, but I always say that it is not the beans but the maker. When you use a coffee filter, you will filter out some of the fat in the coffee and leave a bitter taste to the coffee. Also some coffee makers make you actually taste the plastic in the brew.

Another thing that you should notice when using a French Press is that you don’t boil your water in a plastic water boiler. I recommend that you use a regular stainless steel whistling kettle on your stove.

I know a lot of people who don’t like the coffee that comes from a percolator, but then again I also know few who are very passionate about the brew they get from their percolators.

I always recommend to get stovetop percolators and water boilers because many independent units have rubber or plastic washers that might leak to the water. If you want a BPA free coffee percolator, you should make sure that there isn’t any plastic that gets in contact with the water.

To describe the taste of the brew that comes from a percolator… It is sort of between espresso and regular coffee. It is definitely more bitter than the brew you get from a French Press, but it is still very good.

Many people don’t really care how their coffee tastes, as long as it gives them the caffeine that they are looking for. If you want to make coffee which is loaded with caffeine and really kickstarts your day, then the percolator is the brewer you want to get! Because the water is boiling all the time when in contact with the coffee grind, it will dissolve the most caffeine from the coffee.

If you still prefer drip brew over anything else, the Chemex coffee maker is for you. These nice little BPA free coffee makers have been made for ages, and the best part is that they are still made from glass! Many of them are still hand blown and because of this they are also quite durable.

Because there are no parts that can break (except the glass) you will have this brewer for as long as you drop it accidentally – or on purpose. Unlike the two different brewers that I mentioned above, you will need to use filters with this, and if you don’t like the bitter taste that a filter paper adds to the coffee, then don’t get this but use one of the above. Many people use cheap coffee makers and high quality coffee, and always wonder why it tastest so bad.

If you are ready to invest $10 for a quarter pound of coffee grind, you should at least be ready to invest $100 to ensure that you are brewing it correctly! The best thing is that the best ways to brew coffee, always have a BPA free coffee maker – you can’t make good coffee with a cheap drip coffee maker!

Are you looking for a machine that will brew you a fresh cup of java when you feel like it? Do you want it to make only one cop of steaming hot coffee, or do you want to make a whole pot of it? Just with a click of a button you can have your coffee beans ground and the coffee brewed directly in to your favorite mug or cup. Or you can have it automatized. Just get a programmable machine and you can set the time so that you will have the best coffee of your life every time you wake up. Sounds too good to be true? Cuisinart has coffeemakers for all of these purposes.

This machine is the heart and soul of every kitchen. If you are tired of having instant coffee, or regular coffee grind because they just taste bad and rancid, you can automatically grind your own beans and get an unforgettable coffee sensation every time you choose to drink a cup. The best part is that it comes with a 12-cup automatic system which allows you to brew a pot of brown steamy coffee on a timer. You can set it up to start making the coffee a few minutes before your alarm clock rings, and have it done the minute you wake up. That way you will get the best and the freshest coffee possible at your own home.

This is one of the Cuisinart stainless steel coffee makers, and it is one of their best sellers for a reason. Because of the simplicity of use and the elegant design one can have this machine in their kitchen and feel good about it.

Some people like to have coffee warm at all times. It is not easy to be always boiling up a new cup. If you are like me it takes you some times to drink one cup, and you want to have the second one warm the second you finish the first one. A thermal cpot is the best solution in a situation like this.

If you read the short information on the coffee maker above, you know what this machine can do. It is the same model but only with a thermal pot – this will keep your coffee warm for hours and hours. I was actually surprised at the amount of time that the coffee kept the heat. Since it does not have a heat plate at the bottom the coffee wont start frying up like with some. This is the biggest advantage of a thermal coffee maker – the coffee will stay warm and fresh for a long time.

At first glance, this machine might seem like something that you don’t want, but if you don’t have a large family who all drink coffee, this might turn out to be the best friend you ever got. Forget the cheap coffee makers that look ugly, don’t last for very long, produce lower quality brew and in the end just break when you need them the most. This single serving brewer will make it easy for you to make that hot coffee when you need it the most.

You might have heard about these single serving machines by manufacturers like Keurigs, Breville, Tassimos, Grind ‘n’ Brews. There are a lot of problems with them, and to be really honest, the Cuisinart single serving coffee maker is lightyears ahead of any other manufacturer.

The design is elegant and something that would fit any kitchen. The most important health factor that Cuisinart has taken in to account is the fact that all the parts that are in contact with the water at any point are completely BPA free. This means that you will not be ingesting this harmful chemical every time you get a cup of coffee – this becomes especially important when you drink multiple cups of coffee a day! So I recommend you invest a little bit on a BPA free coffee maker to make sure you avoid this!

It uses Kcups coffee, but you don’t have to buy them since they have included one for free. You can fill this up and you don’t have to get new ones every time. I suggest though that you keep some just in case you want a quick coffee! Don’t even consider anything else but this on demand coffee maker – the other ones are pure rubbish compared to the quality of Cuisinart.

Many people have tried other brands and noticed that the coffee tends to have a plastic taste to it. This is not going to happen with this machine since it dopes not ralease any plastics in the water when it is hot or when it is cold.

Where to buy Cuisinart Coffee Makers

Just like with everything else, you should pay a little attention to where you buy the item these days. You can get it from all places but the thing is that the prices vary quite a lot depending on the location of the store, the demand that they have for the current item and also based on the relationship that they have with their supplier. If the supplier doesn’t want to sell this specific brand for whatever reason, you can be sure that you aren’t getting the best available price for it.

If you want to get a cheap Cuisinart coffee maker, you should have a look at the selection that Amazon has – click here. If Cuisinart isn’t what you are looking for, why not check out some of the best coffee makers on the planet at CoffeeMakers411.com! They have a wide selection of reviews on different coffee makers, and they give you an in detail approach to each one of them.

If you haven’t already, we strongly suggest that you have a look at the Cuisinart coffee maker, because based on our testing, it is the best one around.

What is it about offices that evoke feelings of boredom and despair, and why do so many offices have a drab, dull appearance to them? If you are one of the millions of people throughout the world that works out of an office then you know just how mentally draining cubicle life can be. Although many workers would love nothing more than to spruce up their office space, the look and feel of most offices is dictated by the employer, leaving the employee with very few options. With that said, there are some small things you can do to make your time in the office more tolerable. In fact, one of the easiest ways to brighten up your office is by purchasing a red coffee maker.

Why would anyone consider red coffee makers, you ask? It turns out that red is one of the most often used colors when it comes to interior design because of its tendency to draw people in. Red gets noticed and makes people feel good, particularly if the red device in question emits our favourite caffeinated beverage – coffee! Nothing can break up the monotonous look of an office like a red coffee machine. Plus, a small coffee maker will keep you going throughout the day, through meeting after dull meeting.

If you think you might be interested in purchasing one of these good looking machines then it helps to know where to look. Although there are many different machines out there, not all of them are suitable for all coffee drinkers, nor do all of them contain identical features and price points. A great way to view the different options out there is by heading to sites like Amazon, which carry a wide variety of these machines; you can even sort them by sales volume, price and average rating. In general, you will notice that most red machines are of the automatic drip variety, though there are also several single cup coffee makers and even a few French presses for those that are interested in a more manual approach to brewing coffee. Some of the most popular red machines on Amazon are as follows:

• Bosch Tassimo Single Serve – This machine is actually a single cup coffee maker and uses disposable “pods” of pre-ground coffee to brew on demand. These machines are great for those that are looking for a simple solution for preparing their morning fix, though they aren’t necessarily cheap. The Tassimo retails for $169.00 through Amazon.

• Keurig B30 Single Serve – Another single cup coffee maker, the Keurig is priced somewhat cheaper than the Tassimo at $90, though it does not feature the ability to adjust the brew strength like the Tassimo does. The Keurig also uses a slight different version of pods known as “K-Cups.”

• Bodum Red Chambord French Press – Though not an automatic drip coffee maker, the Bodum will allow the user to brew a special cup of coffee. In fact, coffee brewed using a French Press has been described as fuller and richer than brewed coffee using other methods.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for a way to escape the office doldrums then you have to consider a red coffee maker. Not only will these machines brighten up your day, but they will also fuel your brain enough to get through the day, which can be an accomplishment unto itself. For more information and produce reviews it’s a good idea to fire up your favorite search engine, which will point you in the right direction. As an alternative, you can also head to your local retailer to see what they have that might meet your needs.